ering, in these parts, ever adding glory and riches to Spain.
Indeed, Spain and Portugal, as we have seen, entirely monopolise the
horizon of geographical discovery till the middle of the sixteenth
century, when other nations enter the arena.

[Illustration: PERUVIAN WARRIORS OF THE INCA PERIOD. From an ancient
Peruvian painting.]

CHAPTER XXX

CABOT SAILS TO NEWFOUNDLAND

It was no longer possible for the Old World to keep secret the wealth
of the New World. English eyes were already straining across the seas,
English hands were ready to grasp the treasure that had been Spain's
for the last fifty years. While Spain was sending Christopher Columbus
to and fro across the Atlantic to the West Indies, while Portugal was
rejoicing in the success of Vasco da Gama, John Cabot, in the service
of England, was making his way from Bristol to the New World. News
of the first voyage of Columbus had been received by the Cabots--John
and his son Sebastian--with infinite admiration. They believed with
the rest of the world that the coast of China had been reached by sailing
westward. Bristol was at this time the chief seaport in England, and
the centre of trade for the Iceland fisheries. The merchants of the
city had already ventured far on to the Atlantic, and various little
expeditions had been fitted out by the merchants for possible
discovery westward, but one after another failed, including the "most
scientific mariner in all England," who started forth to find the
island of Brazil to the west of Ireland, but, after nine miserable
weeks at sea, was driven back to Ireland again by foul weather.

Now Columbus had crossed the Atlantic, Cabot got leave from the English
King, Henry VII., "to sail to the east, west, or north, with five ships
carrying the English flag, to seek and discover all the islands,
countries, regions, or provinces of pagans in whatever part of the
world."

Further, the King was to have one-fifth of the profits, and at all
risks any conflict with Spain must be avoided. Nothing daunted, Cabot
started off to fulfil his lord's commands in a tiny ship with eighteen
men. We have the barest outlines of his proceedings. Practically all
is contained in this one paragraph. "In the year 1497 John Cabot, a
Venetian, and his son Sebastian discovered on the 24th of June, about
five in the morning, that land to which no person had before ventured
to sail, which they named Prima Vista or first seen, because, as I